Pervert

[Philosoraptor]

Main Entry: 1per·vert
Pronunciation: p&r-'v&rt
Function: transitive verb
Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French purvertir, pervertir, from Latin pervertere to overturn, corrupt, pervert, from per- thoroughly + vertere to turn -- more at PER-, WORTH
1 a : to cause to turn aside or away from what is good or true or morally right : CORRUPT b : to cause to turn aside or away from what is generally done or accepted : MISDIRECT
2 a : to divert to a wrong end or purpose : MISUSE b : to twist the meaning or sense of : MISINTERPRET
synonym see DEBASE
- per·vert·er noun

[lvx35]

1. Isn't that a great word?

It implies that sexual energy is this natural river that's supposed to flow through us, you just get in trouble when the river gets dammed and it overflows its banks into somebodies back yard....

[cali]

2. No doubt.

george is a pervert.

[Swamp Rat]

3. Watch for alternate spellings

[Hubert Flottz]

14. There is a large difference you know...

A Pervert uses a feather...
A Prevert uses the entire chicken...

[pnwmom]

4. The word has a long history of use as a slur against gays.

As such, I think we should be a lot more careful about throwing it around here.

From the Online Etymology Dictionary:

"pervert (v.)
The noun is attested from 1661, "one who has forsaken a doctrine or system regarded as true, apostate;" psychological sense of "one who has a perversion of the sexual instinct" is attested from 1897 (Havelock Ellis), originally esp. of homosexuals. Perv, short for sexual pervert (n.), is first recorded 1944."

[theHandpuppet]

6. Thank you, pnwmom

Frankly, I'm having a really difficult time with some of the discussions around here the past few days. Scratch just beneath the surface and the true attitudes of some DUers towards GLTB folks becomes all too clear.

[pnwmom]

8. I'm having the same problem, theHandpuppet.

And one of these people told me that I was being homophobic because s/he certainly was not making a link between "gay" and "pervert." They just don't get it.

The word "pervert" has been used as a slur against gays for decades if not hundreds of years. But to point out that we shouldn't be throwing it around (or words like "deviant") makes ME homophobic. Give me a break.

[uppityperson]

11. Oh very much so. It has been incredible.

The attitudes, the giggling, about what is "normal", has been quite a lot of too much.

[Philosoraptor]

7. They called President Bill Clinton a pervert.

[pnwmom]

10. Yes they did, and they also routinely call all gays "perverts."

Do we want to sound like them?

If we call Craig a pervert, then we should be calling Dem. Gov. McGreevey a pervert, because he admitted to decades of anonymous sex in places like highway reststops and in adult bookstores. Are we going to call every closeted man who engages in furtive sex a pervert? Thirty years ago, before AIDS actually helped society open up, that would have included MOST gay men. Were they all perverts?

[Lucinda]

5. Reading the def - I didnt think of sex

I thought of our government....

[La Lioness Priyanka]

9. oh my god. get over it.

[gatorboy]

12. Yes?

Heeyyyy....You tricked me!

[WinkyDink]

13. Example: "Bush has perverted our nation's democratic principles."